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Ex-Bengal deputy speaker Ashis Banerjee found dead at TMC office in Birbhum, suicide note recovered
A purported suicide note has also been recovered from the TMC office which located near Ashis Banerjee's residence in Rampurhat, police said.
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Former deputy speaker of the West Bengal assembly Ashis Banerjee was found dead on Sunday morning inside a party office beside his residence at Rampurhat in Bengal’s Birbhum district, police said.
“Some local people found the body inside the party office and informed the police. A long, handwritten note in Bengali was recovered from the room. The body will be sent for mandatory postmortem examination,” a Birbhum district police officer said, requesting anonymity.
Also read | Who was Ashis Banerjee, 5-time TMC MLA found hanging at party office in Birbhum?
The exact circumstances leading to his death are yet to be ascertained.
“Although this is a matter of investigation, apparently it seems Banerjee died by suicide. The note, apparently written by Banerjee on his letterhead, says he was never involved in any corruption and that efforts were being made to tarnish his image. The note said he was not involved in the tender process at TRDA,” the officer added.
Birbhum superintendent of police Vidit Raj Bhundesh said, “When police reached the TMC party office they found both doors to the room locked from inside. They broke a door and entered the room.” As soon as they entered, he said the team found Banerjee dead, adding that all of this was recorded on video.
Describing Ashis's death as sad and shocking, TMC spokesperson Nilanjan Das shared an image of the purported suicide note on X in which Ashis hinted at being falsely implicated in corruption cases.
Banerjee, 75, was a five-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA and had joined politics when he was a student at Burdwan University. Although he was an associate lecturer of Bengali at Rampurhat College, he won the Rampurhat assembly seat five times in a row from 2001 (when the Left Front was in power) to 2021. He also served as a state agriculture minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet and was the assembly’s deputy speaker from 2021 until May 2026.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which swept the Bengal assembly polls in May, recently alleged that financial corruption had been detected at the Tarapith Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA) and Banerjee was involved in it.
Prasanta Banerjee, the deceased’s younger brother, told the media that the TMC leader had dinner with family members on Saturday night and showed no sign of stress. “There was nothing abnormal in his behaviour. We cannot believe that he died by suicide,” Prasanta said.
Banerjee had lost to BJP’s Dhruba Saha this year. “I sought his blessings after winning the seat. He did not appear to be a person who would die by suicide,” Saha said.
The TMC MLA had resigned from the post of chairman of party's Birbhum district core committee in June this year, weeks after the Mamata Banerjee-led party faced crushing defeat at the hands of the BJP in assembly elections.
He contested the 2026 Assembly elections from Rampurhat on a TMC ticket but lost to BJP's Dhruva Saha by more than 24,000 votes.
Prasanta Banerjee, the deceased's brother, was among those who found the body.
"He used to sit at the party office for some time every morning after his morning walk. He followed the routine today as well," Prasanta Banerjee said.
Although Asis Banerjee had been among Mamata Banerjee's close associates since around 2000, he had distanced himself from the party after his defeat. He was also seen at a meeting of the rebel TMC MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee on June 22.
Anubrata Mondal, who was president of the TMC's Birbhum district unit for two decades, said, "Asis Da was a peaceful person. He never had an enemy and was never involved in any corruption. I can't believe he is gone."
In the purported suicide note, Banerjee wrote that he had made a mistake by joining politics and said no member of his family should get into politics.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee expressed his condolences in a social media post and alleged that the former MLA was a victim of a smear campaign.
"The tragic death of former MLA and former Dy Speaker of WBLA Asish Banerjee is not merely heartbreaking, it should trouble the conscience of everyone who believes that politics and journalism must have boundaries," Abhishek Banerjee wrote.
"His final note raises serious and troubling questions about the sustained smear campaign he said he had endured. The BJP and sections of the media must reflect on the consequences of a politics where allegations are amplified, reputations are put on trial and individuals are condemned in the court of public opinion before the truth is established," the post said.
"Those who participated in this smear campaign should reflect on the human consequences of their words and actions. Political battles will come and go, but a life once lost can never be brought back," Banerjee wrote.
Disclaimer: Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.
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